


Sunshine, Evermore

by LunarRabbit



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Flashbacks, Gen, Old Age, Reminiscing, Short, bede is a brat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:07:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25647043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunarRabbit/pseuds/LunarRabbit
Summary: Dame Opal Poplar used to be young, once.Bede doesn't believe her or that he'll get old someday.A short exercise I did for a defunct Pokemon RP.
Kudos: 4





	Sunshine, Evermore

**Author's Note:**

> Entry I did to play Opal in a Pokemon RP ironically titled "Inclusive World" that began kicking players without notice and barred them from reapplying, then decided to make itself private to avoid getting bad reviews.
> 
> Title is a Caravan Palace lyric, because I associate Opal with Electroswing.

The boy's looking at her portrait. She smiles patiently, even though he's not the first to look at the dusty old thing and then back at her, then back again, then rub their eyes and say something she's heard a billion times, like...

"...is that really you in the picture?" Bede's words tumble out of his mouth coarsely - 'how'd you let yourself go, gran?' - but he means well. If he hadn't, she wouldn't have taken the poor bastard in the first place.

"Dear heart," she starts as she looks at herself, young and carefree and looking into the camera like she knows she's got it. "It is." It's always like this-

-she's back in the overly stuffy studio, blinking the flash of the monstrous studio lights away, hearing the roar of a crowd baying outside her doors like Arcanines after raw meat. Dame Opal, the 'It Girl', dressed in all her finery-

-and she doesn't mind one bit.

"I'm sure you've gotten a lot of 'enjoy it while you're young' babble from Rose and the Champion." (The way Bede rolled his eyes confirmed her suspicions, but she pressed on, anyway.) "Well, dear heart, this bag o' bones is here to confirm it's true, all true, so very sadly and unhappily true." And despite all that, she sweeps her arms out like her bones weren't brittle, presenting the pink pastel of the manor, its hallways covered in frills and murals and posters of old films of stars long dead, featuring talking Mudsdales and Arcanines named Lin Gin Gin, the grandfather clock shedding Stardust as it struck an old tune from before Pokestar Studios even thought of putting its film into a computer. Hells, she even throws in a spin.

Before Bede could say something smart (I see you moving your mouth, lad), her eyes are on him. "I mean it, dear heart. You're aching to be so much older than you are without the aches and pains of it all. Don't think I saw you on the field yesterday, pretending you're already World Champion." Oh, that got Bede puffing.

"You told me to train-" He begins. She doesn't tut him, shoot him down with a shout like some Macro Cosmos lackey who thought they could shove around the Chairman's boy. No, an actress could just shift an eyebrow or curl her lips just right to command silence.

"I did. But I didn't say train until you're dropping dead. That's my job, child." Now, she heard Bede run off at the mouth about how he couldn't WAIT until the old bat was in a grave to escape that damn dress and her obsession over pink and grandiose monologues like this - but hearing said nothing like seeing his face blanch at her little joke. Like I said, dear heart - if you didn't care, I wouldn't have taken you in. "There's no use in winning if you don't have a soul to show your awards to."

"The win is for myself," Bede snarls - the bite in his words dropping, realizing it came out in reflex. "...sorry."

"Lad, I've worked with Jaymes Camerupt. You can't scare me off that easily." She smiled, and Bede tried to hide his. "There, that's a better look. Join me for tea, laddie - consider it part of your training." And with that, she's already making her way to the kitchen. In acting, posture was everything, even for these old bones - and this old actress was Empress of the World, commanding him to follow his destiny.

So he trails behind, like stardust after a comet.


End file.
